The St. Gallen Save: Data Analysis

In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go...

It has come to the end of my first season in charge of St. Gallen and I've managed to win the League title with a club who had the second lowest wage budget in the entire division. Not only did we win but we did in a bit of style, too, finishing a massive 19 points clear of 2nd place and breaking the record points total set by Young Boys (91) in 2018/19.

I've written previously about my preferred style of play and how I wanted the team to look. I wanted us to press and be proactive out of possession. On the ball I wanted us to be a side capable of controlling possession and dominating our opponent in that aspect, but not at the expense of creating chances. I didn't want us to a slow, plodding possession side. I want the team to maintain a good tempo and pass with a bit of purpose. So at the end of the season I wanted to explore the data and answer two questions:

1. Does the data support my conclusion that I've managed to successfully implement the style of play I talked about at the beginning of the season? Is there anything we particularly excel at? Do we have any clear weaknesses?

2. Is our League victory deserved? Did we get a bit lucky?

In Possession

I want my team to be able to dominate the ball because it basically means we give ourselves more opportunity to build successful attacks, with the added bonus of limiting the opponents chances to score. I'd like my team to build from the back, so let's have a look if this worked well for us.

• Ranked 1st for Average possession (67%), well clear of 2nd place Young Boys with 58%

• Ranked 1st for Pass Completion 89% and Passes Completed 25689.

• We complete an average of 713 passes per match, compared to 511 for Young Boys and 343 for FC Basel. I want to see a lot of passes as I want to play quite a high tempo, encouraging fewer touches and prioritising quicker mvoement of the ball, so this is a good sign.

The below visuals further illustrate our passing/possession game. The first just shows what I've said above. We pass more than anyone else in the League by quite some distance, and our completion ratio is good. So we move the ball around a lot, and with good success, which is exactly what I'm wanting to see.

Our Possession Lost number are pretty interesting, too. We lose possession less than the average side. Just 17% of our total possession losses happen in our own defensive third, and the above graphic appears to show that we are very secure when building out from the back.

29% of our possession losses occur in the opponents final third, which appears pretty good but I'll maybe need to look at other teams for greater context. It does show that we seem to be capable of passing our way into the opponents final third, though.

Defensive Play

I wanted us to defend on the front foot and as far away from our goal as quickly as possible. I wanted us to press high up the pitch and win the ball back quickly when we lose it. In combination with our possession style, I wanted to use an intense pressing game to reduce the oppositions time and space on the ball.

• 2nd for OPPDA (3.39). This suggests that we press very often, which is what I wanted to see.

• Ranked 1st for Passes Attempted Against, Passes Completed Against and Final Third Passes Against. I'm pleased with this as our opponents make fewer passes against us than any other side, so their quality in possession when they do have it has to be really good.

• Ranked 1st for Shots Against and Shots on Target Against. Again - really pleased with this, as we face fewer shots and therefore are (in theory) less likely to concede. Our xG per shot faced is 0.11, which is slightly better than Young Boys (0.12) and FC Basel (0.14). So we're facing fewer shots, and the shots we do face are of a slightly poorer chance quality than our main opponents.

When looking at where we win the ball back, it gives a pretty good indication that our front-foot pressing style is working fairly well. 7% of our possession regains are in the opponents final third, and a further 47% coming in the middle third of the pitch.

It's a similar story for our Defensive Actions. These two visuals combined both come with a note of 'Fewer possession gains/defensive actions in defensive third than expected', which would suggest that our high press is working pretty well.

Our xG conceded (34.24) is the lowest in the League, suggesting the combination of our possession play and pressing game is contributing to a strong defensive system.

Attacking/Creativity

With the possession and pressing elements of our game working well together to create a strong defence, my big concern was always that we would become a bit blunt or impotent in possession. I wanted our passing game to be the platform for helping us to be a dangerous attacking side, so let's see how we got on.

• Ranked 2nd for Non-Penalty xG.

• Ranked 2nd for Chances Created.

• Ranked 1st for Shots and joint 1st for Shots on Target.

• Ranked 1st for FInal Third Passes.

These numbers look pretty good. We're second to FC Basel in NPxG and Chances Created, and we managed more shots on target than everyone bar Young Boys. We also make more passes in the final third than anyone else.

The above shows how our attacking numbers compare to our two main title rivals, and the two wealthiest clubs in the country. I think any concerns about being too 'impotent' in attack because of our passing game are probably unfounded. We get plenty of shots on target, create plenty of chances and our chance quality is comparable to the 'big two'.

The above visual shows that while we shoot more than anyone else, our conversion rate is still pretty good, second only to Young Boys. The fact that Basel create more chances than us and Young Boys are more clinical could be down something as simple as them possessing more quality in their squads.

Conclusions

• Our possession style is working pretty well. We are adept at playing out from the back and are able to progress the ball into the final third.

• This allows us good territorial dominance, and means when we lose the ball it often tends to be far away from our own goal.

• Our pressing game has also been pretty good. We allow opponents fewer passes, shots and final 3rd passes than any other side.

• A healthy proportion of our Possessions Gained come in the middle and final third, so we're winning the ball high up the pitch quite a lot.

• We're creating a good amount of chances, and we're converting chances pretty well.

We definitely deserved to win the League title, though there is no doubt we were boosted quite significantly by our set piece threat. With more games to contend with next season, we'll need to improve our strength in depth as there is a pretty big drop off in quality outside of our first XI.

If you've got this far, thanks for reading. Join me next time where I'll cover season two as we enter the Champions League and try to retain our League title.